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Auditor Changes Roundup: 2013 Yearly Summary

2013 was a good year for BDO. Thanks in large part to a number of mergers, the Global Six firm added 65 new SEC audit clients, for a total net gain of 57. 40 of the wins came through mergers and acquisitions, part of the firm’s aggressive growth strategy. This was an improvement on 2012, when the firm saw a net gain of only 13 new SEC audit clients. Their success was recently featured in Accounting Today, who noted that the firm typically targets clients in the $100 million to $5 billion range.

The table below presents a comprehensive view of the gains and losses of the major global and national firms. It shows how many SEC audit clients each auditor gained or lost, and also the auditor from or to which the client was won or lost. (Click to expand the image.)

For example, over the course of 2013, EY lost eight SEC audit clients to Deloitte, but also gained eight. So they broke even, so to speak. Take a look at the chart for more information.

Another interesting way to look at the data is to disaggregate the auditor changes by the size of the companies gained or lost. In this next table, we present the movements of Large Accelerated Filers. This is the SEC filing status of the largest companies, i.e., those with total, worldwide public float of more than $700 million.

KPMG and PwC top the list with a net gain of 3 clients during the year, while EY had a surprising net loss of 9 clients. What shouldn’t be a surprise is that all but one of the auditor changes made by large accelerated filers involved the Global Six, who command almost 98% of the market share of large accelerated filers.

In the next two tables, we’ll show the top-5 net gains and the bottom-5 net losses for Accelerated Filers and Smaller Reporting Companies. You’ll notice that the auditors involved with these smaller companies are much more varied.

And the top-5 net gains and losses for Smaller Reporting Companies:

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